The road from Glencairn on the east side of Regina to the doorstep of the CFL Invitational Combine has been anything but smooth for De Shawn Le Jour.<\/p>\n
The six-foot-three, 220-pound University of Manitoba Bisons receiver has lived through setbacks, heartbreak, injury, and uncertainty. Yet, on Friday\u00a0in Waterloo, Ontario\u00a0he\u2019ll line up with a chance to punch his ticket to the CFL\u2019s main combine March 27 through 29\u00a0in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
And for Le Jour, even saying those words\u00a0feels\u00a0unreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I came from, the obstacles that I’ve had in my life, even\u00a0being able to say that I’m a couple days out from a CFL Combine is still\u00a0surreal,\u201d he told The\u00a0SportsCage. \u201cBut I have to remind myself this is something I\u2019ve worked for, something I\u2019ve earned.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you didn\u2019t know his story, you\u2019d never guess that a big, physical\u00a0pass catcher with elite power and ball skills was ever overlooked. But that chip on his shoulder is real.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0never been highly recruited. I wasn\u2019t on Team Sask, I wasn\u2019t highly touted coming out of high school,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s ironic being a six-foot-three, 220-pound underdog, but that\u2019s who I\u2019ve always been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raised in Regina\u2019s Glencairn neighbourhood,\u00a0Le Jour credits his upbringing for giving him both identity and purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u00a0want people to know the east side has great football players too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Coming out of F.W. Johnson Collegiate, Le Jour didn\u2019t receive a single U Sports\u00a0offer. So he chose junior football, first playing with the Regina Thunder and\u00a0later blossoming with the Edmonton Huskies.<\/p>\n
His breakout year came in 2021:<\/p>\n
\n\tAll-Canadian
\n\tLed\u00a0Prairie Football Conference with 11 touchdowns
\n\t600-plus\u00a0receiving yards
<\/p>\n
But that season came after the darkest period of his life. Cut from the Thunder in 2019. Pandemic shutdown in 2020. And the sudden passing of his father,\u00a0Nathan Cleare, his greatest role model.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of dark times. I was uncertain about who I was as a player and a person, but I had to dig deep and rely on the values my father instilled in me. It wasn\u2019t easy, but it made me who I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n
His All-Canadian season opened\u00a0university doors that had been closed years earlier. He nearly committed to the University of British Columbia, but Manitoba Bisons head coach Brian Dobie wasn\u2019t about to let him leave the Prairies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had called coach Dobie to tell him I was signing with UBC,\u201d Le Jour laughed. \u201cHe kept me on the phone for three hours. That\u2019s the magic of Brian Dobie.\u201d<\/p>\n
He committed to the Bisons shortly after.<\/p>\n
As a rookie in 2022, he suited up for\u00a0nine games:<\/p>\n
In 2023, he took another step:<\/p>\n
\n\t300-plus\u00a0yards
\n\tEmerged as one of Canada West\u2019s most reliable possession receivers
<\/p>\n
But the injury bug bit hard. An MCL tear in his knee ended his 2024 season, and a grade one\u00a0tear to the same ligament limited him early in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a guy who makes excuses,\u201d he said. \u201cI had opportunities I left on the table. I\u2019m bringing that with me to Waterloo. I\u2019m not letting that happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Le Jour has treated this offseason differently because it had to be. He\u2019s spent two years running with the U of M track team, helping his speed and explosiveness, and has trained at The RINK Training Centre in Winnipeg alongside multiple CFL hopefuls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very specific, bench, vertical, broad, three-cone, five-10-five —\u00a0being explosive,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m an older receiver. This isn\u2019t new to me,\u00a0I\u2019ve enjoyed the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
And now?<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysically, mentally, I feel good. A kid from Glencairn, FW Johnson, going to the CFL Combine. I\u2019m\u00a0enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what would make the Invitational Combine a success, he didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to go out there and be myself. If I do what I know I can do, I\u2019ll be happy with the results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overwhelmed by the moment? Not a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s white lines, I\u2019ll have my cleats and gloves, and a DB will have to try to cover me. It\u2019s just football. I\u2019m going to do my best to make Regina and Glencairn proud,\u201d Le Jour said.<\/p>\n
Friday in Waterloo, Le Jour gets his chance to prove that the underdog label no longer applies to him.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The road from Glencairn on the east side of Regina to the doorstep of the CFL Invitational Combine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,203731,82],"class_list":["post-513913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-cfluniversity-of-manitoba-bisonscfl-invitational-combinede-shawn-le-jour","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}